Methods and arrangements are provided for locating a mobile terminal within a mobile telecommunications system. In certain embodiments, GPS ranging signals and cellular base station transmitted downlink signals are received by a mobile terminal, which is configured to determine its current location using a combination of these two types of ranging signals. In certain other embodiments, GPS ranging signals are received by the mobile terminal, which is also configured to transmit uplink signals to cellular base stations. The current location of the mobile station is determined by fusing measured data from each of these different ranging signal transmissions. By combining the available resources of satellite and terrestrial locating processes, the potential for locating a mobile terminal is significantly increased.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method comprising: receiving at least one first type of signals from at least one satellite using a mobile terminal; receiving at least one second type of signals from at least one terrestrial transmitter using the mobile terminal; measuring a time of flight for each of the first type of signals; measuring a time of flight for each of the second type of signals; converting each of a resulting time of flight measurements associated with each of the first type of signals to a corresponding first type of range value; converting each of a resulting time of flight measurements associated with each of the second type of signals to a corresponding second type of range value; and determining an approximate position of the mobile terminal using at least one first type of range value and at least one second type of range value.
2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one satellite is part of a Global Positioning System (GPS).
3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the terrestrial transmitter is part of a mobile telecommunications system having at least one base station therein, and the second type of signal includes a downlink transmitted signal from the base station.
4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of the steps of measuring the time of flight for each of the first type of signals, and measuring the time of flight for each of the second type of signals further includes using a single time measuring unit to measure the respective time of flights for both the first type of signals and the second type of signals.
5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the single time measuring unit is located within the mobile terminal and includes a frequency converter and a correlator.
6. An arrangement for use in a mobile terminal, the arrangement comprising a receiver for receiving at least one first type of signal associated with at least one satellite and at least one second type of signal associated with at least one terrestrial transmitter and at least one time measuring unit responsive to receive the at least one first type of signal associated with the at least one satellite and the at least one second type of signal associated with the at least one terrestrial transmitter, to measure a time of flight for each of the first type of signals and of the second type of signals, convert each of the resulting time of flight measurements to corresponding range values, determine and output an approximate position of the mobile terminal using the corresponding range values.
7. The arrangement as recited in claim 6, wherein the at least one satellite is part of a Global Positioning System (GPS).
8. The arrangement as recited in claim 6, wherein the terrestrial transmitter is part of a mobile telecommunications system having at least one base station therein, and the second type of signal includes a downlink transmitted signal from the base station.
9. A mobile telecommunications system comprising a mobile terminal having at least one time measuring unit to receive at least one first type of signal associated with at least one satellite and at least one second type of signal associated with at least one terrestrial transmitter, measure a time of flight for each of the first type of signals and each of the second type of signals, convert each of the resulting time of flight measurements to corresponding range values, determine and output an approximate position of the mobile terminal using the corresponding range values.
10. The mobile telecommunications system as recited in claim 9, wherein the at least one satellite is part of a Global Positioning System (GPS).
11. The mobile telecommunications system as recited in claim 9, further comprising at least one base station configured to communicate with the mobile terminal, and wherein the second type of signal includes a downlink transmitted signal from the base station to the mobile terminal.
12. A method comprising receiving a plurality of first type signals from a plurality of satellites using a mobile terminal; transmitting at least one second type of signal to a plurality of base stations using the mobile terminal; measuring a time of flight for each of the first type of signals received at the mobile terminal; measuring a time of flight for each of the second type of signals received at the plurality of base stations; converting each of a resulting time of flight measurements associated with each of the first type of signals to a corresponding first type of range value; converting each of a resulting time of flight measurements associated with each of the second type of signals to a corresponding second type of range value; and determining an approximate position of the mobile terminal using the first type of range values and the second type of range values.
13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the at least one satellite is part of a Global Positioning System (GPS).
14. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the plurality of satellites includes only two satellites and the plurality of base stations includes only two base stations, and the method further includes the step of synchronizing clocks within at least each of the two satellites and at least each of the two base stations.
15. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the plurality of satellites includes at least two satellites and the plurality of base stations includes at least three base stations.
16. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the plurality of satellites includes at least three satellites and the plurality of base stations includes at least two base stations.
17. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the step of measuring the time of flight for each of the first type of signals received at the mobile terminal is accomplished by the mobile terminal.
18. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein the step of converting each of the resulting time of flight measurements associated with each of the first type of signals to a corresponding first type of range value is accomplished by the mobile terminal.
19. An arrangement for use with a mobile telecommunications system in locating a mobile terminal, the arrangement comprising a satellite location system having a plurality satellites for outputting a plurality of first type signals; a plurality of base stations within the mobile telecommunications system; a location determining node within the mobile telecommunications system; and a mobile station in radio communication with at least one of the plurality of base stations for transmitting at least one second type of signal to the plurality of base stations, and further for receiving the plurality of first type signals from the plurality of satellites, measuring a time of flight for each of the first type of signals, and providing a range value for each of the first type of signals received to the location determining node; wherein the plurality of the base stations further receive the second type of signal from the mobile terminal, measure a time of flight for each of the second type of signals, and communicate a range value for each of the second type of signals received to the location determining node which is configured to determine an approximate position of the mobile terminal using the first type of range values and the second type of range values.
20. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the at least one satellite is part of a Global Positioning System (GPS).
21. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the plurality of satellites includes only two satellites and the plurality of base stations includes only two base stations, and the method further includes the step of synchronizing clocks within at least each of the two satellites and at least each of the two base stations.
22. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the plurality of satellites includes at least two satellites and the plurality of base stations includes at least three base stations.
23. The method as recited in claim 19, wherein the plurality of satellites includes at least three satellites and the plurality of base stations includes at least two base stations.
24. A shared clock arrangement comprising: a first clock outputting a first clock signal; a second clock outputting a second clock signal; a correlator that is connected to the first clock and the second clock for correlating the first clock signal with the second clock signal and output a correlated clock signal; a frame generator connected to the first clock and for receiving the first clock signal and outputting a corresponding generated frame signal; and a comparator connected to the correlator and the frame generator and for measuring the algebraic sum of the correlated clock signal and the generated frame signal and outputting a corresponding summed output clock signal.
25. The shared clock arrangement as recited in claim 24, further comprising: a message generator connected to the comparator for formatting the summed output clock signal for use with at least one mobile telecommunications network resource selected from a group comprising a mobile terminal and a base station.
26. The shared clock arrangement as recited in claim 24, wherein the second clock signal is a Global Positioning System (GPS) clock signal.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
May 19, 1999
June 26, 2001
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